[ZNG] Fantasy Cartography podcast #5

[Goblinoid Games]

Thanks! I was almost afraid I'd gone too far afield this week, since I only spent the last two or three minutes of the show actually doing anything on the map!

No way. It was great. Some things take more explanation of the "mechanics" rather than the "art," aye? Besides, the part about which colors will print true and which won't is one little gem of knowledge that is priceless!!

Next week's episode is going to be really fun. I just hope I'll be able to fit it all into 10 minutes!

Well, you know, if it goes on longer than that I'll just have to find a way to watch it all.... ;-)

 

[ZombieButch]

No way. It was great. Some things take more explanation of the "mechanics" rather than the "art," aye? Besides, the part about which colors will print true and which won't is one little gem of knowledge that is priceless!!

There was one bit I didn't get to mention because I ran out of time...

If you're working in RGB mode, you can hit Ctrl-Y or to click on View > Proof Colors, and Photoshop will display how your image will look in CMYK. So you can keep all the functionality that you get working in RGB, and at the same time you get to see how it'll look in print. (More or less, if your screen colors are calibrated properly.)

Well, you know, if it goes on longer than that I'll just have to find a way to watch it all.... ;-)

10 minutes is all you get for a YouTube video. Next week's episode really needs to be viewed all in one sitting, I think, to get the full benefit from it. So if it runs long, I'll split it in two for YouTube and release it as episode 6a and 6b. There's no time limit for Revver, so that won't be a problem there.

 

[Urizen]

*waits in eager anticipation*

 

[GlassJaw]

More generalized tutorials about working with the Photoshop program.

Things like, oh, The Pen tool, clone stamp, healing brush, etc.

But you can get those in any Photoshop book. I'd much rather see advanced techniques that actually apply to cartography (like what we have seen so far).

I'd like to see some tutorials on more realistic landscape maps. If you get a chance, check out the Ancient Fortress map from Dungeon #143 bby Chris West. You can get it here:

http://paizo.com/dungeon/resources/downloads

I really like his landscape textures and colors.

 

[Urizen]

But you can get those in any Photoshop book. I'd much rather see advanced techniques that actually apply to cartography (like what we have seen so far).

I'd like to see some tutorials on more realistic landscape maps. If you get a chance, check out the Ancient Fortress map from Dungeon #143 bby Chris West. You can get it here:

http://paizo.com/dungeon/resources/downloads

I really like his landscape textures and colors,

You make a very good point. I agree, more advanced techniques would be very handy.

Thanks for the link to the map.

All of the maps in that supplement are amazing. My biggest concern with them is how they would print, given they are very graphic intensive (Lot's of bevels in the elements.).

 

[Urizen]

I should be clearer.

When I'm talking about_print_I'm not referring to high quality printed products like WOTC and Paizo release.

I'm thinking more along the lines of a black and white home printer.

 

[ZombieButch]

But you can get those in any Photoshop book. I'd much rather see advanced techniques that actually apply to cartography (like what we have seen so far).

I'd like to see some tutorials on more realistic landscape maps. If you get a chance, check out the Ancient Fortress map from Dungeon #143 bby Chris West. You can get it here:

http://paizo.com/dungeon/resources/downloads

I really like his landscape textures and colors.

Chris West is a hard act to follow!

You'll find that I'll get more into realistic textures and such as the scale of the map gets smaller. (I've got a work-in-progress hermit's cabin over in this thread as an example; I still have a lot of work to do on that one, but it gives you the general idea I think.)

There's no reason you can't use those same techniques on larger scale maps, of course, but it just seemed to make more sense when I was figuring out how to organize the book.

 

[ZombieButch]

I should be clearer.

When I'm talking about_print_I'm not referring to high quality printed products like WOTC and Paizo release.

I'm thinking more along the lines of a black and white home printer.

Images like that look great when you have their color to help differentiate different elements, but when you see them in black and white they can get muddy. If you want a map like that to come out a little clearer in B&W, open it up in Photoshop, desaturate it so you'll see what it'll look like printed, and bump up the contrast*. That'll give it some pop in black and white.

(*I usually use Curves for that sort of thing, because I'm just a big ol' geek like that, but the plain old Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast will do the trick.)

 

[Urizen]

Thanks for the tip!

 

[GlassJaw]

Chris West is a hard act to follow!

Indeed. He's been my favorite cartographer since the Shackled City AP. I really like his work on the City Quarter books from The Game Mechanics.

You'll find that I'll get more into realistic textures and such as the scale of the map gets smaller. (I've got a work-in-progress hermit's cabin over in this thread as an example; I still have a lot of work to do on that one, but it gives you the general idea I think.)

Yeah, those are nice. On the Ancient Fortress map, it looks like there is a layer of brown underneath the green. I really like the blending and shadow effects he gets - it looks really natural.